hee - Only

In today’s lesson we’re going to just look at one tiny little Hindi word - I mean how easy does that sound? The word we’re going to study is; ही hee. Have you seen this word before? It comes up all the time so I bet you have. Hopefully by the end of today’s lesson you’ll understand perfectly what it means and how to use it. So are you ready to get going?
Let’s look at an example of ही hee first, we already know how to say “They speak Hindi”, that’s right it’s…

वे हिन्दी बोलते हैं ve hindee bolte hain - They speak Hindi
. Now by just adding the word ही hee into this sentence we can make quite a big difference to its meaning. So let’s see what happens…
वे हिन्दी ही बोलते हैं ve hindee hee bolte hain
- They speak only Hindi
So can you see what’s changed? We’ve added ही hee and this has changed the meaning of the sentence from “They speak Hindi” to “They speak only Hindi”. Are you following? So what exactly does ही hee mean then?

Well simply put, ही hee is used for emphasis. It emphasises, or restricts, the word before it in the sentence. Often (but not always) this means it can be translated as “only” or “just”. So in our above sentence this means that putting ही hee after the word हिन्दी hindee tells that it is only Hindi that they speak!


मैं तैर सकता हूँ main tair saktaa hoon
- I can swim (said by a male)
Now if we want to change this sentence to say “Only I can swim” can you guess how we’d do it? That’s right we’re going to use ही hee and it’s going to come right after मैं main (because we want to emphasis that it’s just “me” that can swim), so we’d say…
मैं ही तैर सकता हूँ main hee tair saktaa hoon
- Only I can swim (said by a male)
With me? So let’s see a few more examples, as you read through them make sure you understand them. Don’t forget if you have any questions you can leave them in the comments section below.

हम मछलियाँ ही ख़रीदेंगे ham machliyaan hee khareedenge
- We will buy only fish

राजेश ही रसोईघर में है rajesh hee rasoeeghar men hai
- Just Rajesh is in the Kitchen

मेरे पास एक ही कुत्ता है mere paas ek hee kuttaa hai
- I have just one dog
Are you getting the idea now? Remember that ही hee emphasises the word directly before it in the sentence. This means that its position is very important, and changing its position changes the meaning! For example consider the sentences…

मैंने ही दाल पकाई mainne hee daal pakaaee
- I cooked the daal by myself
मैंने दाल ही पकाई mainne daal hee pakaaee
- I cooked just daal
Can you see the differences between the two sentences above? In the first one we have the ही hee right after the word मैंने mainne which means we’re emphasising that it was just “me” that did it - I cooked the daal by myself. But in the second sentence we have the ही hee right after the word दाल daal so we’re emphasising that it was just daal we cooked! Does that make sense?
Do you think you now understand the word ही hee? Hopefully you do but of course if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments section below!
If you think you’ve understood the whole lesson try translating the following sentences into Hindi - each one of them uses ही hee!

1. I will write only in Hindi
2. Rishi went to the cinema by himself
3. He is selling just one house
4. They will return with just Priti (To Return - लौटना lautnaa)
5. She eats just chips

As usual leave your answers in the comments section below and I’ll let you know how well you’ve done! So go on, give it a go!

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So last lesson we looked at the Hindi word ही hee, can you remember what we learnt? That’s right, ही hee is used for emphasis and it often translates as “only” or “just”. For example we learnt how to say sentences like…

आमिर ही मस्जिद गया aamir hee masjid gayaa
- Only Amir went to the mosque
If this seems new or confusing then simply head back to our last lesson and have a little revise through it! Today we’re going to learn a little more about this word ही hee. So are you ready to get straight into it?

Sometimes ही hee “joins” onto words we already know and causes them to change slightly, so let’s learnt these words first and then we’ll see a bunch of examples! So here’s the first group of these words…
मुझ mujh + ही hee gives मुझी mujhee - Just me
हम ham + ही hee gives हमीं hameen - Just us
तुझ tujh + ही hee gives तुझी tujhee - Just you
तुम tum + ही hee gives तुम्हीं tumheen - Just you
यह yeh + ही hee gives यही yahee - Just him / her / it
वह voh + ही hee gives वही vohee - Just him / her / it
इस is + ही hee gives इसी isee - Just him / her / it
उस us + ही hee gives उसी usee - Just him / her / it
इन in + ही hee gives इन्हीं inheen - Just them
उन un + ही hee gives उन्हीं unheen - Just them
As you can see, we’ve translated these as “Just ___”, but often the translation depends more on the context! Let’s see some example sentences then…

यही बिल्ली मेरी है yehee billee meree hai - This very cat is mine
Can you see what we’ve done here? Instead of just saying यह बिल्ली yeh billee - this cat, we’ve added our new word ही hee to change the meaning to “this very cat” making the sentence very precise! With me?

हाँ, मैं वही करूँगा haan, main vohee karoongaa
- Yes, I will do exactly that
In this example we’re using वही vohee to mean “exactly that” - just making the sentence more specific. Can you see? This is a good sentence to know when talking to your work boss!

मैं उसी से प्यार करती हूँ main usee se pyaar kartee hoon
- I love him (and just him)
Got it? Now here’s the second set of words we can join ही hee to, ready?
अब ab - Now + ही hee gives अभी abhee - Right now
यहाँ yahaan - Here + ही hee gives यहीं yaheen - Right here
वहाँ vahaan - There + ही hee gives वहीं vaheen - Right there
सब sab - All + ही hee gives सभी sabhee - Absolutely all
Ready to see a few example sentences with these? Here goes…

हम यहीं बैठ गए ham yaheen baith gae
- We sat down right here

अभी आइए abhee aaie - Please come right now

सभी लोग ख़ुशी होंगे sabhee log khushee honge
- Absolutely everyone will be happy
Did you follow and understand all those sentences? They shouldn’t be too complicated for you! Don’t forget if you have any questions at all then please feel free to ask in the comments section just below.
As a final word of warning make sure you don’t confused the words यही yahee - “just him” and यहीं yaheen - “right here” or the words वही vohee - “just him” and वहीं voheen - “right there”; they are very similar words, the nasalisation at the end is very important! And, phew that’s it for today - that’s the end of the lesson!
Why not try writing your own Hindi sentences using the words we’ve learnt today - give it a go and write them in the comments section if you want me to check over them to make sure they’re correct!